Abstract

A universal scaling law for the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability is validated with experimental results covering a wide range of density ratios and shock strengths. These results include the first membraneless, gas-phase, interface experiments for and . The shock-accelerated, sinusoidal interface experiments are conducted in a vertical shock tube with a large square cross section and cover the experimental parameter space: , , and . Results provide growth-rate data for comparison with computational fluid dynamics simulation codes and verify the nondimensional time and amplitude parameters chosen for scaling are the correct ones. Correct scaling is obtained by including a growth-reduction factor that accounts for diffusion at the interface. Planar imaging techniques are used to diagnose the instability development for a nearly single-mode interface, and results are reported for eight scenarios (including three distinct gas pairs) that span the linear and nonlinear growth regimes. Images from the strongly shocked, high experiments are the first to provide evidence of bubble-growth suppression due to shock proximity.

Received 19 March 2009Accepted 07 December 2009Published online 31 December 2009

Acknowledgments:

The authors would like to express sincere thanks to Jeff Greenough (LLNL) for facilitating computations. This work was supported by U.S. DOE Grant No. DE-FG52-06NA26196 and a Sandia National Laboratories graduate student fellowship.